There's nothing like allegations of predatory conduct to bring two organizations together. Nicholas Negroponte's One Laptop Per Child project has decided to bring Intel on board as a partner and a possible future supplier, just a few months after Negroponte went on 60 Minutes and essentially accused the chip maker of trying to destroy his low-cost PC project. Intel has agreed to join the board of the OLPC and work with the organization on possible "collaborations involving technology and educational content," according to a press release Friday morning.

As for his whining about Intel trying to destroy his project, he's essentially complaining about competition which, in my book, is BS.

If we were talking about a solely business-oriented venture, then I would agree. But in this case, I highly doubt that the OLPC project would even exist if typical business thinking was the sole motivation. I have no illusions that it's entirely altruistic, but it does seem like one of those rare situations where large corporations are at acting out of enlightened self-interest. As opposed to the standard wisdom of "make as much money as possible, with as little effort as possible, and do it quickly as possible - long-term consequences be damned."

In that context, I think that Negroponte and many others saw the Classmate PC as Intel's attempt to make a quick buck by undermining the OLPC project. Especially put in context with the fact that Intel's chairman publicly criticized the OLPC project back in 2005 - the cynical take on it at the time ("Intel thinks OLPC is a bad idea because it doesn't use Intel hardware") certainly seems to have been validated.